Game achievements system

ABSTRACT

Systems and method for providing a game achievements system where players are rewarded with game achievements based on mastering certain in-game facets of the games they play. Each game achievement may be conveyed in a profile as a badge or trophy, title, description, date, etc. Players may also accumulate points based on game achievements. A display interface may be made available such that a player may see his achievements and total points, as well as those of others.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent application is a continuation of, and claims priority from, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/005,768 filed on Dec. 7, 2004, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE/PERMISSION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright© 2004, Microsoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to the field of gaming and multimedia devices. In particular, the present invention is directed to a system and method of defining and creating game achievements that may be used to convey a player's skill.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional gaming systems include a concept of unique identity, which was intended to increase player satisfaction and create a sense of community. However, while the conventional unique identity does minimize the effort required to play online, the unique identity failed to accomplish these goals. One reason for this problem is that multiple players often share an identity because there is no easy way for multiple players to identify themselves on a shared gaming device. This creates confusion as a player using a particular identity during an online gaming session, may not be the same player in the next session or from the previous session.

Further, conventional identities have failed to provide a method for conveying information about players other than a limited set of game achievements and fail to convey information about offline achievements. Thus, it is difficult to learn more about a player through the conventional unique identity. Therefore, there is a need for a unique identity that is rich and includes game achievements from both offline and online contexts to convey a player's skill. Further, the achievements should be weighted such that excelling in more difficult games results in a higher achievement level. The present invention provides such a solution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a system and methods for providing a game achievements system. In accordance with the present invention, players are rewarded with game achievements based on mastering certain in-game facets of the games they play. Each game achievement may be conveyed in a profile as a badge or trophy, title, description, date, etc. Players may also accumulate points based on game achievements. A display interface may be made available such that a player may see his achievements and total points, as well as those of others.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of providing a game achievements system in an online gaming environment. The method includes defining system achievements; receiving definitions of predetermined in-game achievements; tracking player activity to capture occurrences of the system achievements and the predetermined in-game achievements; and aggregating occurrences of the system achievements and the predetermined in-game achievements during game play into a profile associated with a user.

In accordance with features of the invention, the method may include assigning a predetermined number of points to each system achievement, aggregating the predetermined number of system achievement points into the profile, and maintaining an aggregate number of points for the profile. Also, the method may include assigning a predetermined number of points to each in-game achievement, and aggregating the predetermined number of in-game achievement points into the profile.

In accordance with the invention, the predetermined number of points may be a weighted valued based on a total number of points available. Further, the total number of points assigned to in-game achievements for a specified game may be determined in accordance with a difficulty of the specified game. However, it may be desirable to fix the total number of points assigned to the system achievements for all games.

A display user interface may be provided where the profile is published for viewing. The display may show the aggregate number of points within a profile.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, there is provided a system for providing game achievements in an online gaming environment. The system includes an offline player achievement tracking mechanism that tracks offline player activity during periods when a player is not communicatively connected to the online gaming environment, an online player achievement tracking mechanism that tracks online player activity during online sessions with the online gaming environment, and an aggregation mechanism that receives data regarding offline player activity and the online player activity and aggregates the offline player activity and the online player activity into a player profile.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a gaming console in which aspects of the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary architecture in which the present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 3 illustrates sources of information that provide input to a Gamer Profile;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary game achievements display user interface configuration;

FIG. 5 illustrates the aggregation of game achievements; and

FIG. 6 illustrates a developer user interface to specify in-game achievements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates the functional components of a multimedia/gaming console 100 in which certain aspects of the present invention may be implemented. The multimedia console 100 has a central processing unit (CPU) 101 having a level 1 cache 102, a level 2 cache 104, and a flash ROM (Read Only Memory) 106. The level 1 cache 102 and a level 2 cache 104 temporarily store data and hence reduce the number of memory access cycles, thereby improving processing speed and throughput. The CPU 101 may be provided having more than one core, and thus, additional level 1 and level 2 caches 102 and 104. The flash ROM 106 may store executable code that is loaded during an initial phase of a boot process when the multimedia console 100 is powered ON.

A graphics processing unit (GPU) 108 and a video encoder/video codec (coder/decoder) 114 form a video processing pipeline for high speed and high resolution graphics processing. Data is carried from the graphics processing unit 108 to the video encoder/video codec 114 via a bus. The video processing pipeline outputs data to an A/V (audio/video) port 140 for transmission to a television or other display. A memory controller 110 is connected to the GPU 108 to facilitate processor access to various types of memory 112, such as, but not limited to, a RAM (Random Access Memory).

The multimedia console 100 includes an I/O controller 120, a system management controller 122, an audio processing unit 123, a network interface controller 124, a first USB host controller 126, a second USB controller 128 and a front panel I/O subassembly 130 that are preferably implemented on a module 118. The USB controllers 126 and 128 serve as hosts for peripheral controllers 142(1)-142(2), a wireless adapter 148, and an external memory device 146 (e.g., flash memory, external CD/DVD ROM drive, removable media, etc.). The network interface 124 and/or wireless adapter 148 provide access to a network (e.g., the Internet, home network, etc.) and may be any of a wide variety of various wired or wireless adapter components including an Ethernet card, a modem, a Bluetooth module, a cable modem, and the like.

System memory 143 is provided to store application data that is loaded during the boot process. A media drive 144 is provided and may comprise a DVD/CD drive, hard drive, or other removable media drive, etc. The media drive 144 may be internal or external to the multimedia console 100. Application data may be accessed via the media drive 144 for execution, playback, etc. by the multimedia console 100. The media drive 144 is connected to the I/O controller 120 via a bus, such as a Serial ATA bus or other high speed connection (e.g., IEEE 1394).

The system management controller 122 provides a variety of service functions related to assuring availability of the multimedia console 100. The audio processing unit 123 and an audio codec 132 form a corresponding audio processing pipeline with high fidelity and stereo processing. Audio data is carried between the audio processing unit 123 and the audio codec 132 via a communication link. The audio processing pipeline outputs data to the A/V port 140 for reproduction by an external audio player or device having audio capabilities.

The front panel I/O subassembly 130 supports the functionality of the power button 150 and the eject button 152, as well as any LEDs (light emitting diodes) or other indicators exposed on the outer surface of the multimedia console 100. A system power supply module 136 provides power to the components of the multimedia console 100. A fan 138 cools the circuitry within the multimedia console 100.

The CPU 101, GPU 108, memory controller 110, and various other components within the multimedia console 100 are interconnected via one or more buses, including serial and parallel buses, a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. By way of example, such architectures can include a Peripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus, PCI-Express bus, etc.

When the multimedia console 100 is powered ON, application data may be loaded from the system memory 143 into memory 112 and/or caches 102, 104 and executed on the CPU 101. The application may present a graphical user interface that provides a consistent user experience when navigating to different media types available on the multimedia console 100. In operation, applications and/or other media contained within the media drive 144 may be launched or played from the media drive 144 to provide additional functionalities to the multimedia console 100.

The multimedia console 100 may be operated as a standalone system by simply connecting the system to a television or other display. In this standalone mode, the multimedia console 100 allows one or more users to interact with the system, watch movies, or listen to music. However, with the integration of broadband connectivity made available through the network interface 124 or the wireless adapter 148, the multimedia console 100 may further be operated as a participant in a larger network community.

When the multimedia console 100 is powered ON, a set amount of hardware resources are reserved for system use by the multimedia console operating system. These resources may include a reservation of memory (e.g., 16 MB), CPU and GPU cycles (e.g., 5%), networking bandwidth (e.g., 8 kbs), etc. Because these resources are reserved at system boot time, the reserved resources do not exist from the application's view.

In particular, the memory reservation preferably is large enough to contain the launch kernel, concurrent system applications and drivers. The CPU reservation is preferably constant such that if the reserved CPU usage is not used by the system applications, an idle thread will consume any unused cycles.

With regard to the GPU reservation, lightweight messages generated by the system applications (e.g., popups) are displayed by using a GPU interrupt to schedule code to render popup into an overlay. The amount of memory required for an overlay depends on the overlay area size and the overlay preferably scales with screen resolution. Where a full user interface is used by the concurrent system application, it is preferable to use a resolution independent of application resolution. A scaler may be used to set this resolution such that the need to change frequency and cause a TV resynch is eliminated.

After the multimedia console 100 boots and system resources are reserved, concurrent system applications execute to provide system functionalities. The system functionalities are encapsulated in a set of system applications that execute within the reserved system resources described above. The operating system kernel identifies threads that are system application threads versus gaming application threads. The system applications are preferably scheduled to run on the CPU 101 at predetermined times and intervals in order to provide a consistent system resource view to the application. The scheduling is to minimize cache disruption for the gaming application running on the console.

When a concurrent system application requires audio, audio processing is scheduled asynchronously to the gaming application due to time sensitivity. A multimedia console application manager (described below) controls the gaming application audio level (e.g., mute, attenuate) when system applications are active.

Input devices (e.g., controllers 142(1) and 142(2)) are shared by gaming applications and system applications. The input devices are not reserved resources, but are to be switched between system applications and the gaming application such that each will have a focus of the device. The application manager preferably controls the switching of input stream, without knowledge the gaming application's knowledge and a driver maintains state information regarding focus switches.

The present invention is directed to a “Gamer Profile,” which serves as a building block for services and applications that aim to create a social community of gamers and grow relationships among players. In accordance with the present invention, the Gamer Profile is the entirety of information (e.g., metadata) related to a specific user (i.e., the gamer's digital identity). The Gamer Profile is developed from a set of services that collect and expose this information in a meaningful way to the community. The Gamer Profile also provides for personalization such that users can customize and enhance their gaming experience. As will be discussed in greater detail below, the Gamer Profile consists of various components, including, but not limited to, a Gamercard, game achievements, and gamer preferences.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an overview of an exemplary architecture that may be used to implement the Gamer Profile. The console 100 interacts with a remote service 158 that provides services 160 such as voice/chat, a friends list, matchmaking, content download, roaming, feedback, tournaments, voice messaging, and updates to games. The service 158 also maintains the Gamer Profiles in a profile database 162 and configuration data 164 used by the services 160 and games 154. The service 158 collects Gamer Profiles, aggregates, processes information supplied by other services 160, and fulfills real-time client requests for retrieving Gamer Profile-related services. The Gamer Profiles in the database 162 are also used by the games 154 to enable, among other things, personalization and customization, etc.

Using the console 100, the user may interact with a guide 156. The guide 156 provides an interface where the user may navigate to, and enter, various online areas and options provided by the service 158. The configuration data 164 stored by the service 158 may be used to determine features and options provided by the guide 156. When the game 154 is running, a defined set of APIs are used to call and interact with the services 160. When requesting Gamer Profile information via the APIs, the game 154 may pass a unique identifier of a user. The service 158 may return a Gamercard (discussed below), game stats, game achievements, affiliations, game settings. etc. Additional details of the various aspects of the exemplary architecture are provided below.

The console 100 includes an offline tracking mechanism 157 that tracks offline player activity during periods when a player is not communicatively connected to the service 158. The tracker/aggregator 157 tracks offline player activity during offline sessions and aggregates that data with the online player activity into the Gamer Profile 166.

Referring to FIG. 3, the Gamer Profile 166 is created when a user creates a profile (selected from the guide 156) and chooses his/her unique Gamertag (a user's unique name), tile (picture/avatar associated with the user) other options during an account sign-up phase. From there, a base Gamer Profile 166 is created. The Gamer Profile 166 may then be populated from several sources. For example, the Gamer Profile 166 may include self-described data 168 from the Gamer Profile owner. Other gamers 170 can provide feedback regarding the Gamer Profile owner. The service 158 may track the gamer's online and offline activity. In addition, the games 154 may report the gamer's statistics and game achievements.

The owner of Gamer Profile can edit his/her Gamer Profile 166 directly and control who can view each section of the Gamer Profile. The Gamer Profile 166 may be edited via general fields (e.g., tile, country, language, gender, greeting, etc.) and/or system settings (e.g., voice output, controller vibration, character name, game format, game mode, etc.). Privacy/Opt-out Settings can be tuned for the Gamer Profile to, e.g., restrict presence information only to friends, allow game achievements to be visible to all, etc.

The Gamer Profile 166 may include feedback provided by other players 170. Feedback helps others learn about a particular gamer. For example, if the gamer uses foul language or aggressive play in game sessions, other gamers may submit feedback to the service 158. The feedback mechanism improves the user experience by building reputations. Players are therefore anonymous, but not unknown because of the accumulated feedback.

As noted above the Gamer Profile 166 may be used for customization and preference setting on a global level, as well as a per game level. Gamer preferences aid games 154 in choosing defaults for common settings such as game profile name, controller inversion and controller vibration, etc. For example, if a gamer likes using an inverted controller, this preference will be used for new titles as they are played. Games 154 have access to Gamer Profiles via the database 162 and services 160. In addition, game usage data can be mined to tune the game 154 to the user's particular preferences and game features updated after the initial game launch.

As noted above, the Gamer Profile 166 conveys, among other things, game achievements. Players will be rewarded with game achievements based mastering certain in-game facets of the games they play. Each game achievement may be conveyed in the Gamer Profile 166 as, e.g., a badge or trophy, title, description, date, etc., as shown in FIG. 4. Games may supply a screen snapshot or some other rich media captured at the moment the player earned a given achievement. This too may be displayed as part of the Gamer Profile 166. Players will accumulate gamer Cred (a points-based reward system) based on game achievements. As shown in FIG. 4, the player has a gamer Cred of 290. The display interface of FIG. 4 may be made available within the console 100 or via, e.g., a web browser, etc.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is illustrated the overall relationship of the game achievements and gamer Cred in accordance with the present invention. The player's total gamer Cred is an aggregation of gamer Cred awarded through the play of one or more games (e.g., Title A and Title B). Each game may award up to a certain amount of game Cred (e.g., 200) that is divided into game-defined achievements and standard system achievements.

For example, referring to the user interface FIG. 6, Title A may be a relatively easy game to master and may award a total of 100 game-defined gamer Cred points. Within Title A, there may be several achievements (e.g., Campaign completed on hardest, multiplayer level 10, etc.) The relative weight of each of the achievements is set based on the total weight (e.g., Campaign completed on hardest is 10/36 or 27.8%). If a player completes this achievement, then the player may be awarded 27.8% of the 100 total gamer Cred points, or 28, rounded to the nearest integer value. A player is preferably credited with an achievement only once.

The standard system achievements make up the remaining 100 points in the exemplary embodiment. The standard system achievements may be applied to all games. They may include achievements such as a first sign-in to a title, completing a first session with a game, completing a first hour of a game, completing 100 sessions with a game, completing 10 hours with a game, completing a game, etc. Other system achievements may be defined as necessary. The system achievements may be weighted such that a first sign-in is awarded a relative few points, whereas completing 100 sessions is awarded a higher number points.

Developers may use a tool that include user interface of FIG. 6 to describe their game. The tool may create a configuration file that a system application on the console 100 reads when the game is loaded, a C++ header file that game code can compile against, and an XML file that is used for configuration, creation of tables, creation stored procedures, and creation of leader boards.

Although Title A and Title B can award 200 gamer Cred points, more difficult games may award 500 or 1000 (or some other number) of gamer Cred points. The total amount to be awarded on a per game basis is preferably set by the online service 158 and is not editable by the developers. This will maintain fairness and avoid the situation where Game X wants to increase sales by making the total number of gamer Cred points available a significantly higher number than other games.

Thus, the present invention provides a balanced game achievements system by weighting the difficulty of the achievements and the games. In addition, because the aggregation of game Cred is abstracted from the game to the console 100, the likelihood that a hacker or developer can over-value achievements to inflate a player's gamer Cred is reduced.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various Figs., it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. 

1. A method implemented at least in part by a hardware processing unit, the method comprising steps of: defining a system achievement, wherein the system achievement is achievable via game play in both a first game and a second game associated with a gaming environment, and a predetermined number of system achievement points are awarded for the system achievement; receiving definitions of a first in-game achievement for completing a goal in the first game and a second in-game achievement for achieving a goal in the second game, wherein the first in-game achievement is not achievable via game play of the second game and the second in-game achievement is not achievable via game play of the first game, the first in-game achievement being assigned a first number of in-game achievement points and the second in-game achievement being assigned a second, different number of in-game achievement points; receiving a first maximum number of gamer points achievable for the first game, the first maximum number of gamer points comprising the system achievement points for the first game and the first in-game achievement points for the first game; receiving a second maximum number of gamer points achievable for the second game, the second maximum number of gamer points comprising the system achievement points for the second game and the second in-game achievement points for the second game, wherein the second maximum number of gamer points is different than the first maximum number of gamer points; tracking player activity to capture occurrences of the system achievement and the first in-game achievement during the first game and occurrences of the system achievement and the second in-game achievement during the second game; aggregating the captured occurrences into a profile associated with a user; awarding system achievement points and in-game achievement points for the captured occurrences to the profile, up to the first maximum number for the first game and the second maximum number for the second game; and publishing the profile, wherein the profile is accessible via a user interface, further wherein the user interface executes independently from the first game or the second game, wherein the number of system achievement points awarded for the first game comprises a different proportion of the first maximum number of gamer points than the number of system achievement points awarded for the second game comprises of the second maximum number of gamer points, and at least one of the steps is performed by the hardware processing unit.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hardware processing unit is part of a console that performs the at least one step.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the console performs each of the steps.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the user interface is displayed by the console.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user interface is displayed via a web browser.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of system achievement points awarded for the system achievement is fixed for at least the first game and the second game.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking includes tracking offline player activity and the aggregating includes aggregating the offline player activity into the profile.
 8. One or more computer-readable storage devices having stored thereon computer executable instructions which, when executed by one or more processing devices, perform: accessing definitions of system achievements, wherein: the system achievements are achievable via game play of a first game and a second game, the first game and the second game having corresponding total numbers of awardable points, the system achievements are associated with corresponding numbers of system achievement points, and an individual system achievement is associated with a corresponding number of system achievement points that comprises different proportions of the total number of awardable points for the first game and the total number of awardable points for the second game; accessing definitions of in-game achievements associated with the first game and in-game achievements associated with the second game, individual in-game achievements being obtained by completing corresponding in-game goals, wherein: the in-game achievements associated with the first game and the in-game achievements associated with the second game are assigned corresponding numbers of in-game achievement points, and at least one in-game achievement associated with the first game is not achievable via game play of the second game; tracking player activity of a player to capture occurrences of the system achievements and the in-game achievements; and maintaining an aggregate number of points for a profile of the player, the aggregate number of points being determined from the captured occurrences of the system achievements and the in-game achievements.
 9. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 8, included in a console with the one or more processing devices.
 10. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 9, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, perform: displaying the aggregate number of points on a user interface via the console.
 11. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 8, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, perform: providing the aggregate number of points for display via a web browser.
 12. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 8, wherein the number of system achievement points awarded for the individual system achievement is fixed for at least the first game and the second game.
 13. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 8, wherein the tracking includes tracking offline player activity.
 14. The one or more computer-readable storage devices of claim 13, further comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, perform: aggregating the offline player activity into the profile.
 15. A system comprising: one or more storage devices configured to store: data identifying system achievements, wherein: the system achievements are achievable via game play of a first game and a second game, the first game and the second game having corresponding total numbers of awardable points, the system achievements are associated with corresponding numbers of system achievement points, and an individual system achievement is associated with a corresponding number of system achievement points that comprises different proportions of the total number of awardable points for the first game and the total number of awardable points for the second game; and data identifying in-game achievements that are associated with the first game and in-game achievements that are associated with the second game, individual in-game achievements being obtained by completing corresponding in-game goals, wherein the in-game achievements associated with the first game and the in-game achievements associated with the second game are assigned corresponding numbers of in-game achievement points; a tracking mechanism configured to track player activity of a player to capture occurrences of the system achievements and the in-game achievements; an aggregation mechanism configured to maintain an aggregate number of points for a profile of the player, the aggregate number of points reflecting the captured occurrences of the system achievements and the in-game achievements; and at least one processing device configured to execute the tracking mechanism or the aggregation mechanism.
 16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the one or more storage devices comprise a Random Access Memory (RAM).
 17. The system according to claim 15, configured in a multimedia console.
 18. The system of claim 15, wherein the number of system achievement points awarded for the individual system achievement is equal for at least the first game and the second game.
 19. The system of claim 15, wherein the tracking mechanism is configured to track offline player activity.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the aggregation mechanism is configured to aggregate the offline player activity into the profile. 